Bernard Kerik’s 4-Year Prison Sentence Upheld

Former NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik was sentenced to 48 months in prison for tax fraud, lying to the White House and other felonies. (file/credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Former NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik was sentenced to 48 months in prison for tax fraud, lying to the White House and other felonies. (file/credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — A federal appeals court upheld the conviction and four-year prison sentence given to former New York police commissioner who nearly became head of the Department of Homeland Security.

Bernard Kerik was treated fairly by a judge who gave him a year longer in prison than the three-year term called for by federal sentencing guidelines, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday.

Kerik, 55, pleaded guilty in late 2009 to charges that included tax fraud, making a false statement on a loan application and lying to the White House while he was being vetted for the Homeland Security post in 2004. He began serving his sentence last May.

The sentencing judge, Stephen Robinson in White Plains, N.Y., had said Kerik made “a conscious decision to essentially lie to the President of the United States to get a Cabinet position.”

A protege of former Mayor Rudolph Giulani, Kerik had been nominated to the post after he was declared a hero for his work as commissioner after the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Andrew Shapiro, who argued the appeal, said: “We’re very disappointed by the ruling and considering our next steps.” A message left with a representative from the prosecutor’s office was not immediately returned.

A three-judge appeals panel ruled that the sentence was not unreasonable since Kerik had adequate notice that his failure to distance himself from published reports accusing prosecutors of misconduct was an aggravating factor at his sentencing.

The appeals court noted that the sentencing judge had cited the articles charging prosecutorial misconduct early in sentencing proceedings, inviting defense lawyers to comment on their “apparent incongruity with the defense’s portrayal of Kerik as a heroic figure worthy of sentencing consideration.”

The judges quoted Robinson to show how upset he was that Kerik had ignored orders of the court, which it said “had caused the court to take the extraordinary action of revoking bail for a former police commissioner of the city of New York because it could no longer trust him to comply with court orders intended to ensure a fair and impartial jury.”

At sentencing, Robinson went above the recommended sentencing guideline range because of Kerik’s failure to follow court orders, because he pleaded guilty to a large number and variety of crimes, because they occurred over a lengthy period from 1999 through his prosecution, because he committed crimes as police commissioner, because he was willing to lie to the White House and because he used the Sept. 11, 2001 tragedy for personal gain.

The appeals court also rejected defense claims that the sentencing judge was impartial, saying its review of the record “revealed no cause for serious doubt on this subject.”

It said it did not detect bias in Robinson’s statement that Kerik’s use of the Sept. 11 tragedy “for personal gain and aggrandizement is a dark place in his soul.”

The appeals court wrote that the judge’s observation found support in Kerik’s efforts to take $80,000 in revenue deductions for false charitable contributions in connection with speeches made about Sept. 11.

Irene Cornell

Irene Cornell has been a reporter at WCBS for 40 years, and she still comes to work with a smile.
Irene covers crime and the courts -- name an interesting local case and she's probably covered it -- and she says what keeps the job so fascinating...

One Comment

Not everyone who goes to prison is a “bad” person there are so many people locked up for years simply because of personal drug use. It is a victimless crime and waste of money. http://www.prisonexposed.com

Since Kerik admitted to committing crimes while police commissioner then it must stand to reason that his pension has been revoked by Mayor Mike Bloomberg.

I just can’t see a criminal receiving pension checks for the rest of his life for commiting criminal acts as he admitted to.

I just would like to know what happened to his apartment in the bronx and the other properties he owned and what about the overseas bank account ?.

Who is paying his mortgage, Insurance, taxes and upkeep of his million dollar home in Jersey?.

What about IRS have they collected all the back taxes that kerik owed ?

Kerik made a statement that I found hard to believe, he stated he’s sorry for the mistakes he made, whick makes me believe he thinks he never committed any crimes. He should state he’s sorry for all the criminal acts he committed as it should be said.

I know for a fact if any other public offical were to commit just one count of the many counts of criminal acts that kerik did, he or she would be doing at least 3 – 5 years in jail for each count.

I DON.T LIKE THE CORRUPTION BUT I WIIL GIVE THAT MAN MR KERIKS A CHANCE TO HELP OTHERS PEOPLE NOT TO COMMITED THE SAME MISTAKE THAT HE DID WE HAVE TO UNDERSTAND WHEN THE WORLD TRADE CENTER HE WAS THERE LOOKING THE HOROR OF TERRORISM PLEASE JUDGE GIVE THIS MAN A CHANCE ,

Sean Hannity hung the label “Hero of 9/11” upon Bernie ‘The Skel’ Kerik. Hannity clearly has no clue what a hero is. For his enlightenment I will provide this instructional statement: The heroes of 9/11 are the people who ran Toward the terrorist attacks at GREAT personal risk … Kerik ran AWAY to save his own a$$ … Far away. He returned after the recovery operation was in progress and took control of a penthouse apartment that overlooked the site and had been made available as a place for the recovery workers to rest. Kerik instead used it as his love nest where he spent his time doing the wild thing with his mistress while the Police, Firefighters, EMS and hard hats risked their lives and their health on the ground below him recovering the body parts of the nearly 3,000 missing victims and first responders. Kerik is no hero, he is a ZERO!

Welcome to the gray bar Burnie. Remember the people you burned while in power? I guess the law wasn’t intended for you ha jerky? Have a good time where you’re going maybe you can write a book about it.

EDDIE PR
MR.JERK OFF KERIKS SHOULD BE HANG BY HES BALLS
JUST IMAGINE HOW MUCH DAMAGE HE MUST OF DONE
CLIMBING UP THE LADDER TO COMMISSIONER AND HOW
MANNY INNOCENT PEOPLE HE PUT AWAY TO LOOK
GOOD FOR THE JOB.